Gangster Sorcerer: Demons from the Hell Side of Town

[DannyK]

OK, Judd is probably ready for me to just go away and leave his thread alone, but I'm still brainstorming this idea.  I was thinking of starting a new thread, but I'm really still just running variations on Judd's original idea.  

First idea: It occurred to me that you could use the Pact rules in Sorcerer and Sword to represent hiring a master criminal, one that is a cut above the common Demon-thug.  Let's say you want the finest safecracker on the West Coast to pull a job for you, but you don't need him and can't afford him to be hanging around your pad every night, waiting for orders and wanting his Needs met.  

Second idea: I was looking at Sorcerer and Soul last night, and reading the rules for turning humans into Demons and vice versa.  My idea is this: instead of a simple progression from human Sorcerer to NPC Demon, what if ongoing Humanity loss led to the acquisition of an "internal demon"?  This would be implemented as either a Possessor or a Parasite Demon.  

Now the character is in more trouble, because he's got a Demon within that has its own dark Needs and Desires, and this one won't go home to Helltown at the end of the night.  This represents the character being unable to keep the dirty business at arm's length, becoming more ragged and desperate.

Some characters will stabilize at this new, lower level (with some greater personal power), and some will descend further, becoming NPC Demons as described in Sorcerer and Soul.  

Now I have to figure out a mechanism for this.  You can't go to Humanity=0 twice.... I suppose the character could get a small bonus of Humanity points after acquiring his Posessor Demon.  I'm wondering if that would really work in play terms -- it seems almost like a reward for running down Humanity.  

Edit: corrected format tags.

[Judd]

OK, Judd is probably ready for me to just go away and leave his thread alone, but I'm still brainstorming this idea.  I was thinking of starting a new thread, but I'm really still just running variations on Judd's original idea.  

Thanks for posting, Danny.  Appreciated.

First idea: It occurred to me that you could use the Pact rules in Sorcerer and Sword to represent hiring a master criminal, one that is a cut above the common Demon-thug.  

Absolutely love the idea of using Pact rules.  It works for me on every level.  Fantastic.  I will have to go reread those rules in S&S

I'm not too hot in the internal demon idea.  I really like the Demons in this variant being people, constant reminders that we are all a few steps away from the hell side of town and being bound to some manipulative bastard teetering on the edge of the city and the hell side of town.

Thanks for the further feedback.  It is nice to bounce ideas like this back and forth.

[Seth L. Blumberg]

I really hope you publish this as a mini-supplement, Judd. It's incredibly cool.

[Judd]

I really hope you publish this as a mini-supplement, Judd. It's incredibly cool.

Thanks, glad you like it.  I want to be farther along with my first mini-supplement, The Dictionary of Mu, before I even write Ron a proposal for this puppy.